Reviewing Random Films For Fun

June 20, 2015

Olympia Part 1: Festival of the Nations #MovieReview

Film 209 in the “1001 Films to See Before You Die” challenge is 1938’s “Olympia Part 1: Festival of the Nations”. Or as it’s known in German, “Olympia 1. Teil: Fest der Volker”. This Leni Riefenstahl sports documentary is about the 1936 Olympics held in Berlin. There’s not a whole lot I can say about this film. It’s the Olympics, things happened and Adolf Hitler was running the Olympics. He used the Olympics to promote his government and ideals of racial supremacy such as “no blacks or Jews can participate” but dropped the rule after many countries planned to boycott the event. The winners of the Olympics were Germany with 33 gold medals, United States were second with 24 gold medals (four gold medals coming from Jesse Owens) and Hungary came third with 10 gold medals. Great Britain came tenth with 4 gold, 7 silver and 3 bronze. Overall, to me, it’s nothing special. Fun Fact of the Film – Olympia premiered in Germany on Adolf Hitler’s 49th birthday. If you have seen this film then let me know what you thought of it in the comments. Here is what I had to say while watching 1938’s ” Olympia Part 1: Festival of the Nations”

Film – Olympia Part I
Year – 1938
Director – Leni Riefenstahl
Written by – Leni Riefenstahl
Staring – David Albritton, Arvo Askolo, Jack Beresford
IMDb Rating – 8.1/10
My Rating – MEH
Length – 115 min (1h 55min)
Genre – Documentary, Sports
It’s 1936 and the Olympics are being held in Berlin
And we open with…. clouds?
I can’t see a thing
Is this meant to be Athens?
It is Athens… What’s left of it
(Insert shots of Greek statues)
Erm… Why are all the men competing only wearing a G-String?
Random shot of arms and legs
The women don’t wear anything it seems
Is this the actual Olympics or the adult 18+ version of the Olympics?
Good God I’m bored
There’s a man jogging with a torch
The torch makes its way through all the European countries
16 minutes later and we’re at the 1936 Olympics
Hitler’s in attendance and makes the Olympics open
Lets celebrate the opening by releasing pigeons
And here comes the torch
23 minutes in and nothing exciting has happened
All the journalists are here
Japan’s journalist seems to talking into a bottle
The first event – The Discus with Carpenter, USA
Carpenter is out
Germany now and he gets 47.22
Norway gets 48.77
Greece gets 47.75
American again with 49.36
Sweden – 47.22
China – Out
France – 44.56
Germany again – 45.1
Italy – 49.23
Germany one last time get 47.93
Back to Carpenter who gets 50.48
And American win the first gold
Now the womens discus
Germany – 43.54
Japan – 33.5
Poland – 44.69
One fan calls Poland a wanker
Czech – 34
Japan again – 37.35
Germany – 39.8
Germany – 41.64
Poland – 46.22
Why do Poland get slo-mo?
Germany one last time – 46.63
Germany win the gold!!!!
Womens Javelin now
Germany to start with 41.29
Poland – 41.8
Germany #2 – 45.18
Germany win gold and silver
Poland get bronze
Womens Hurdles now
I have no idea who won, the cameraman wasn’t interested either
Finals of the womens hurdles now
Who won?
Italy win gold
Germany win silver
Canada win bronze
Mens hammer throw
USA – 51.66
Germany – 54.7
Sweden – 54.83
Germany #2 – 54.1
Finland – 51.9
Germany #1 – 54.85
Hitler seems to be enjoying himself
Sweden – 53.3
Germany #2 – 55.04 NEW RECORD!!!!
Germany #1 – 56.49 NEW RECORD!!!
Germany win gold and silver
Sweden get bronze
100m mens heat
There’s Jesse Owens from USA warming up
And Owens wins the heat in 10.4 seconds
Come on Sweeney (He’s English)
False start!
Damn! Germany won in 10.5 seconds
Back with Owens from USA in the finals
10.2 seconds NEW RECORD!!!!
Wait… Now it’s the final
And I no longer care